Management Science and Information Systems

The doctoral degree program in management science and information systems has two independent concentrations: information systems, and decision sciences and statistics. The requirements for admission to candidacy for each concentration are given below.

Information Systems

To be admitted to candidacy for the doctoral degree, the student must (1) fulfill the core course requirements described below; (2) pass a written qualifying exam that covers the material in the core courses; (3) submit a qualifying paper, which is reviewed by the student's adviser and two other faculty members; (4) complete course requirements for two minor areas (three courses in the first area and two courses in the second area); (5) submit a candidacy paper, which must be accepted by the student's dissertation committee; and (6) submit a dissertation proposal, if one is required by the student's dissertation chair.

Core courses. During the fall semester of their first year of graduate study, all students must complete Economics 387L (Topic 1: Microeconomics I) and Management Information Systems 381N (Topic 2: Information Systems Concepts and Readings) and 381N (Topic 4: Decision Support Systems). In the spring semester of their first year, students in the electronic commerce track must complete Economics 387L (Topic 3: Microeconomics II) and Management Information Systems 381N (Topic 15: Introduction to Electronic Commerce); those in the organizational track must complete Management Information Systems 381N (Topic 12: Advanced Information Systems Readings) and 382N (Topic 3: E-Business Application Development). All students must maintain a grade point average of at least 3.33.

Written qualifying examination. After satisfying the core course requirements above, at the end of his or her second semester in the program, the student must take a written qualifying exam that covers material from the three common core courses and the two core courses in the student's track. If a student does not pass the exam on the first attempt, he or she may take it again about three months later. The student may not take the exam more than two times.

Qualifying paper. After completing the core courses, the student writes the qualifying paper, which surveys the field of information systems and identifies and examines issues for future research. The paper is evaluated by the student's adviser and two other faculty members. Each student also presents the qualifying paper to the information systems faculty and doctoral degree students.

Candidacy paper. After satisfying the requirements above, and within thirty-six months of entering the program, the student must submit a candidacy paper, which focuses on his or her area of research and provides background for the dissertation. At this point, the student's dissertation committee is organized. This committee reviews the candidacy paper and evaluates it during an oral presentation. The presentation is open to all interested parties.

Dissertation proposal. The requirement of a dissertation proposal is at the discretion of the student's dissertation chair. In the dissertation proposal, the student identifies an issue for dissertation research. The proposal should provide relevant background on the topic and should defend the originality and research contribution of the proposed work. It is reviewed by the students committee and evaluated during an oral proposal defense. The oral defense may be concurrent with the candidacy paper presentation and is open to all interested parties.

Decision Sciences and Statistics

To be admitted to candidacy for the doctoral degree, the student must (1) fulfill the core course requirements described below; (2) pass a written qualifying exam that covers the material in the core courses; (3) complete course requirements for two minor areas (three courses in each area); and (4) fulfill the oral dissertation proposal defense requirement described below.

Core courses. During the first year of graduate study, the student must take five core courses: Optimization I, Optimization II, Statistics I, Statistics II, and Algorithms and Implementation. The student must earn a grade of at least B in each course and a grade point average of at least 3.50 in the five courses. A well-prepared student may seek to fulfill the core course requirement by earning satisfactory grades on the final examinations for some of these courses rather than by registering for them. In this case, the student does not receive graduate credit for these courses and the grade is not counted toward the required average.

Written qualifying examination. After satisfying the core course requirement above, at the end of his or her second semester in the program, the student must take a written qualifying exam that covers material from the five core courses. If the student does not pass the exam on the first attempt, he or she may take it again about three months later. The student may not take the exam more than twice.

Oral dissertation proposal defense. After satisfying the requirements above, and within thirty-six months of entering the program, the student must pass an oral dissertation proposal defense. The proposal defense consists of a presentation before the student's dissertation committee, followed by a question period. The presentation is open to all interested parties. The questions during this session are directed toward clarifying the presentation and determining whether the student has a solid grasp of the basic material needed for research in his or her specialization. The student passes the proposal defense by obtaining a positive vote from at least four of the five faculty members on the dissertation committee.